Overflowing With Thankfulness

Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith . . . and overflowing with thankfulness.
— Colossians 2:6-7

My
friends are proud owners of a dog. They claim that their dog is the
most thankful creature ever. Just look into his eyes! See how he wags
his tail!

It’s
likely that our favorite pets do display a sense of gratitude to us,
their caring owners. But from the Bible’s pages we discover that
only a human heart can be truly thankful. In a sense our ability to
be thankful sets us apart from the rest of God’s creation. Our urge
to say “thank you” makes us human.

In
today’s verses we discover that an attitude of thanks is deeply
rooted in our encounter and friendship with God, in the person of
Jesus Christ. Note that it doesn’t depend on external things or our
life’s circumstances. Rather, it’s connected to our knowledge of
and faith in God. To put it simply, the better we know Jesus as our
Lord and Savior, the more thankful we are. Our daily walk with him
helps us experience the true abundance of godly thankfulness.

This
month I invite you to reflect with me on thanksgiving and gratitude.
The Bible is filled with passages on this subject, and in the next 30
days we are going to explore many of them. Let us be prayerful and
patient as we dig into God’s Word for new and exciting insights.

Prayer

Our heavenly Father, we thank you for the privilege of knowing you through Christ. Encourage us in our daily walk with you, strengthen our faith, and help us to be thankful. In Jesus, Amen.